Apparatus for joining pieces of yarn



APPARATUS FOR JOINI NG PIECES OF YARN Filed April 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 1 ea TTDRNEY A i 15 I7 I6 x 1 I? l \\\\\\\\\\&\ l 15 17' F/ G. /O

A 20 I I 390- i NTOR M Hz? LIL BY No v. 14, 1944.

c. J. cHARNocK APPARATUS Fon JOINING PIECES OF YARN Filed April 2, 1942 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Nov. 14, 1944 A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 2,362,801 APPARATUS FOR JOINING PIECES OF YARN Clement Joseph Charnock, Manchester, England Application April 2, 1942, Serial No. 437,427 I In Great Britain April 7, 1941 6 Claims. (01. 57-22) This invention has reference to apparatus for joining pieces of yarn and has for its object to provide means whereby pieces of yarn either single or folded can be joined easily and quickly without causing any lump or thick place on the yarn and without detractingfrom the strength of the yarn, 1 I

According to this invention apparatus for joining the ends of yarns comprises two opposed yarn-retaining devices, mounted on a common supporting means and actuated by a single mechanism to rotate and untwist the respective pieces of yarn held bythem and after pulling off the loose ends, to bring the remaining untwisted ends together andto' rotate and twist them in the reverse direction, and thus unite the two pieces.

The invention is more particularly set ,forth with reference to the accompanying drawings,-

wherein- I I Fig. Us a front elevation of apparatus according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the main spindle.

Fig. 3 Ba sectional plan of the adjusting mem-' berson the spindle and shown immediately above itinFig.2.' w

' Fig. 4 is a side elevation of'the same member and its trip mechanism.

Fig, 5 in three views shows one of the yarn spindles.

Fig; 6 is an elevation of a quadrant arm.

Fig. 7 is a sectional elevation of the twisting table with the adjustable guide detached.

Fig. 8 is 'a plan :showing the adjustable guides in place. r

Fig. 9 is a plan of the quadrant arms and gears. Fig. 10 is an end elevation of the adjustable drum and some of the parts associated therewith. r

Fig. 11 is a plan showing the yarn in position before untwisting begins and l Fig, 12'shows the apparatus after the yarn has been untwisted, andready for the re-twisting operation. 1

The apparatus comprises a base orstand [3 which may be adapted for mounting ona textile machine or on the hand orbelt of the user but which is shown in"the drawings as a separate piece of apparatus, and onwhich base two pillars Hare mounted opposite to one another to support and carry the working parts.

Each of these pillars M has a slit at or near the topwhich opens into a slit l5, Fig. 5, in a hollow spindle 16 mounted in the pillar, the two hollow spindles l6 being axially aligned. In the ends of each of these hollow spindles, see Fig. 5, is a clip in the form of a spring ll and on the outside is a pinion l8*also having a slit, by which the spindle is rotated. Thus a piece of yarn passed through theslit in the pillar can be passed through into the hollow spindle, the part where it emerges at the inside end being held in the spring clips ll.

Mounted on each pillar l4 and on the outside of it is a train of gear wheels IQ for rotating the spindles, a reversing pinion being provided in one train.

The train of gear wheels l9 on eachside is driven from a common shaft 20, rotated in any convenient manner as by a handle 2|, Fig. 2, which acts through a differential gear, including two pinions 22 and 23 on the shaft axis and both meshing with a free bevel pinion or gear 24 mounted on a block 25 fixed on the shaft 20. The drive from the handle 2| is through the two bevel pinions 26 and 21 which latter is on the same sleeve as the pinion 23, which is thus rotated from the handle 2| andthe bevel pinion 26.

support 32 carrying a table 33 and a yarn breaking mechanism 34, to be described in more detail later, and moved by the wheels 3|, 3|, On the shaft 20 and, shown at the left hand end and also in section in Fig. 3 is a twist adjustment drum made in two parts, one being mounted on the shaft 20 and having an extended boss on which the other part isrotatably adjustable and is secured in place by a, nip screw 36. of this drum has a projecting arm or stop, the one on the fixed part being indicated at 31 and the one on the adjustable part at pin 38. -When the adjustable part is secured by the screw the whole drum rotates as one and the edges of the two parts. are calibrated so that they can relatively be adjusted. The purpose of this adjustment is to provide means whereby the yarn to be spliced and which has to be untwisted, and re-twisted shall be correctly untwisted and correctly re-twisted, and as various yarns have vari- I ous twists per inch, which are always known, by

the adjustment of the relative parts of the drum 1 by a set screw, Figs.-;1 and :2. Itnormally rests against a stop 39b mounted in a bracket 39a shown .in Figs. 2 and 10. The stop 39 is in the Each part path of the stop 31. Below the shaft is a. support 43, Figs. 1 and 4, carrying a pivoted arm 4| having an upwardly projecting part 42' and a retaining catch 42 projecting from the side thereof, This arm 4! normally is yieldingly held up by a spring 43 against a stop 43.where it is in the path of the stop 38. When this arm is so held up its catch 42 catches the arm 44 and thus holds the sleeve extension 28' of the bevel pinion 28, to which it is attached, from rotation.

When the handle 2i is rotated the drive is from 28 to 21 and 23 and through 24 to the pinion 22, but if the sleeve extension 28' is held stationary by the engagement of the arm 44 with the catch 42, Fig. 4, then the pinion 22 cannot revolve. This is the condition at the beginning of the splicing operation. The shaft 20, however, ro-

tates, because 24 is driven by 23 and revolves around the shaft axis, thusrotating the block 25, the shaft 25, and the twister heads Iii-l8. This soon brings the arm 39 against the stop 31 which turns the drum 35 and the pin 38, which is on and projects from the other side of the drum. 35. When the pin 38 engages the part 42, Fig. 4, and depresses the arm 4|, the arm 44 then will be freed from the catch 42 and as a result 22 and 28 are free to move. As the bearing pin of the bevel gear 24 is fixed to the shaft through the block 25, the gear 24 now acts as a carrier, revolving with the pinion 22, and the drive passes to 22 and 28 and thence to the pinion 29 and the vertical shaft carrying the wheel which turns the pinions 3 I.

Mounted on the shafts of these pinions 3| are horizontal arms 45, Figs; 1, 6 and 9, having horns 45 at their ends provided withspring retaining nips 4?, and when the pinions 31 are turned, the arms 45 are swung out from the positions shown in Fig. 11 to those shown in Fig. 12.

The table 33, as shown in Fig. 7, has what may be termed a central channel 48 which is aligned with the common axis of the twohollow spindles 16 at opposite sides of it. At each side of the table is a fixed horn 49' and an adjustable horn 50 shown detached in Fig. 7, the slotted base of the horn 5i] lying within the flange of the table 33 and being secured by a screw 5|.

When the apparatus is to be used one of the yarns 52, see Fig. 11, is laid in one of the hollow spindles [6 where it is held between the springs l1 and is guided by the horns 49 and 50 into the channel 48 and is held in the nip 41. on the horn 46 at the opposite end. The other piece of yarn is threaded in exactly the same way from the opposite side, the two pieces of yarn thus lying nearly parallel in the channel 48. The handle is now turned and the wheels [9 rotate the gear trains which end at l8--|8 and the latter revolve the hollow spindles I6, thus turning out the twist in the yarn. The number of turns is controlled by the adjusting drum 35, as already, described,

When the twist is taken out the pin 39 releases the catch 42, and the arm 44, thus released, as also described above, allows the drive to pass to the pinion 22 and the arms 45 are swung out ward, breaking the yarn ends held by the nips on the horns 46, each thus carrying a looseend with it. The breaks occur at the edges of the blades 55. Upon the cutting or breaking of the yarns, those sections adjacent to the cut or broken ends separate into their constituent strands due to the action of the twist in the strands themselves, and these loose strand end sections of one yarn become loosely intermingled with those of the other. When these arms 45 are at the end of their outward movement the handle cannot be turned any further owing to a stop device 54, Figs. 2 and 10, which prevents the handle from making a complete revolution, described later and when released the parts at once return to their .normal positions by the pull of springs which are tensioned by the previous operation, or positively by turning the handle, in the opposite direction, preferably the former, as it is quicker. During this operation the hollow spindles l 6-46 are revolved in directions opposite to those in which they are rotated to take out the twist and in so doing the loosely intermingled strands become twisted together, thus forming 2, splice or union which is smooth and strong. Thereafter the joined yarn is lifted out of the spindles.

In Fig. 10 is shown a drum 54, having a spring within it and a peg 53 which forms a suitable stop and return spring mechanism for the operational and return movements of the apparatus, and which is shown on the handle spindle in Fig. 2; it is not however, necessary that this form of stop and return spring mechanism should be used.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a thread splicing machine, the combination with a pair of longitudinally slotted spindles each adapted to support andclamp a thread, means supporting said spindles in axial alignment with each other for rotation around a common axis, a support between said spindles for those sections of threads to be twisted together, mechanism common to both of'said spindles for revolving them in unison, first in one direction and then in the opposite direction, and mechanism adjustable to predetermine the number of revolutions that each spindle will make.

2. In a thread splicing machine, the combination with a pair of longitudinally slotted spindles each adapted to support and clamp a thread, means supporting ,said spindles in axial alignment with each other for rotation around a common axis, a support between said spindles for those sections of threads to be twisted together, said support being adapted, to hold said sections of thread closely beside and adjacent toeach other in a generally parallel relationship, means operable to sever the waste'ends beyond said sections, mechanism-common to both of said spindles for revolving them in unison to untwist said portions of thread and to operate said severing means, and means adjustable to automatically predetermine the number'of turns of twist that will be taken out of said threads.

3. In a thread splicing machine, the combination with a pair of longitudinally slotted spindles each adapted to support and clamp a thread, means supporting said spindles in axial alignment with each other for rotation around a common axis, a support between said spindles for those sections of threads to be twisted together, said support being adapted to hold said sections of thread closely beside and adjacent to each other in a generally parallel relationship, means operable to pull the threadsinopposite directions through said support and to sever the waste ends beyond said sections, mechanism common to both of said spindles for revolving them in unison to untwist said portions of thread and then to operate said pulling means, and means adjustable to automatically predetermine the number of turns of twist that will be taken out of said threadsprior to said pulling action.

' 4. In a thread splicingmachine according to preceding claim 2, a construction in which said thread severing means includes parts for clampuntwisting operation occurs.

5. In a thread splicing machine according to preceding claim 3, a construction in which said thread pulling means comprises a'pair of pivoted arms and the means for operating them includes gear connections between said arms and the mechanism for revolving said spindles.

6. In a thread splicing machine, the combination with a pair of longitudinally slotted spindles each adapted to support and clamp a thread, means supporting said spindlesin axial alignment with each other for'rotation around a com- 1 mon axis, a support between said spindles for those sections of threads to be twisted together, said support being adapted to hold said sections of thread closely beside and adjacent to each ing the end portions of the threads while the other in a generally parallel relationship, means operable to pull the threads in opposite directions through said support and to sever the waste ends beyond said sections, mechanism common to both of said spindles for revolving them in unison to untwist said portions of thread and then tooperate said pulling means, and means adjustable to hold said severing means out of action until a substantially predetermined number of turns of twist have been taken out of said thread sections.

CLEMENT JOSEPH CHARNOCK. 

